A police officer has been shot and killed on Virginia Tech's campus during a routine traffic stop, according to the university. A second victim was found dead at another campus parking lot. The suspect is described as a white male wearing a maroon hoodie, and his whereabouts are currently unknown. The shootings occurred shortly after noon.

Students are asked to stay indoors for now as hundreds of police officers are searching and securing campus buildings and public areas. Area K-12 schools were on lockdown, but are now releasing students.

"We're looking absolutely everywhere for the person who fits the description,"
Mark Owczarski, Virginia Tech spokesman, said at a mid afternoon press conference. Students are not in class today because exams were set for tomorrow, he said. Those exams are now postponed. "It's a very tragic day."
Lerone Graham, a reporter for local newspaper the Roanoke Times reported via Twitter that, "students scarce now around campus; sirens sounding constantly."

Reports of more gunshots on campus are unfounded, however, the university says.

In 2007, a Virginia Tech student killed 32 people and himself during a shooting rampage.

Virginia Tech began the appeals process for a $55,000 federal fine levied for its handling of the 2007 shooting spree this week in Washington. The government says the university did not warn students that a shooter was on the loose in a timely manner, which is in violation of a 1990 safe campus law known as the Clery Act. The parents of two wounded Tech students said their children would have stayed indoors and avoided injury if the school had notified them, according to the Roanake Times. The school argues that it complied with the law.

Tech upgraded its security system after the 2007 shooting. Owczarski said
Tech's alerts system can reach students via text message, email, classroom electronic message boards, campus sirens, and a downloadable application called "desktop alerts." Students were alerted about the shooting today soon after it happened.

Below, you can watch a livestream of events from local CBS affiliate WDBJ7. (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AvaSwB0ELIdO5ohU7X2P5gbzWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTFkbml nNzJjBG1pdANCbG9nIEJvZHkEcG9zAzYEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ 0JvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTNkOXY0dWZkBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDYTQzOTFmMzAtZTcxMS0zM2NjLWIwMDUtOGM2MzYxNG RiNWRhBHBzdGNhdANvcmlnaW5hbHN8dGhlbG9va291dARwdANz dG9yeXBhZ2UEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=0/SIG=11srvvni8/EXP=1324588647/**http%3A//www.wdbj7.com/news/livestreaming/)

Click here for updates to this story (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/police-officer-reportedly-shot-virginia-tech-campus-lockdown-183115715.html)

Doktor

08 Dec 11,, 21:37

WTF? CNN claims 2 dead.

CNN) -- Two people were found dead Thursday at Virginia Tech -- one of them a police officer who was shot during a traffic stop -- and the whereabouts of the suspect were unknown, the school said.
Shortly after noon, a Virginia Tech police officer made a routine traffic stop in the Coliseum parking lot near McComas Hall, and the officer was shot and killed, school spokesman Mark Owczarski said. There were witnesses to the shooting, he said.
The shooter fled on foot toward a parking lot called "the Cage." At that lot, a second person was found dead, Owczarski said.
The second body has not been identified, Owczarski said at a news conference.
"We have many law enforcement agencies here. They have a description of the suspect. They are searching all buildings, all public areas, outdoor, indoors, we are looking absolutely everywhere for the person that matches the description of the suspect," he said.
The status of the suspected shooter remained "unknown" shortly after 3 p.m., more than two hours after the first shooting, the school said on Twitter.
The university knocked down what it called "unfounded" reports of additional gunshots reported heard since the original shooting, saying "there are no new substantiated reports of suspicious or criminal activity."
The Virginia State Police is taking the lead in the investigation, Owczarski said.
Six agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene, ATF spokesman Scot Thomasson said. Twenty additional agents are on standby, he added.
"The agents are very familiar with the campus and the buildings," Thomasson said, as they have worked with Blacksburg police since the 2007 mass shooting on campus.
In April 2007, 33 people were killed when student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. That shooting took place at West Ambler Johnston Hall, across the street from the Coliseum lot.
On Thursday, school officials urged the campus community to remain on lockdown.
"Suspect described as white male, gray sweat pants, gray hat w/neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack. On foot towards McComas," Virginia Tech said in posts on its website and Twitter feed.
"There is an active campus alert in Blacksburg," the website said. "Everyone should seek shelter or stay where you are. Blacksburg Transit service is suspended until the alert is lifted."
All public schools in Montgomery County -- where Blacksburg is located -- were also placed on lockdown, county school superintendent Brenda Blackburn said. Students were eventually dismissed after a delay of more than an hour.
In addition, a western Virginia rest area along Interstate 81 was shut down Thursday afternoon, Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman Jason Bond said. He did not know whether that move -- which was ordered by state police -- was related to the Blacksburg shooting. The stop, on the highway's northbound side, is about 9 miles from the Virginia Tech exit.
As to what happened hours earlier, a visibly upset Julie Fleming described to CNN affiliate WDBJ how she'd been walking nearby and saw police pull up around the vehicle of the officer who had been shot.
"When they opened (the car door), he just fell out toward the ground and they immediately started reviving him," she said, adding that two officers then took off with weapons after the gunman.
Brian Walls, an employee in the school's athletic department, told CNN he also saw first-responders attempting to resuscitate someone in the same area, near the university's football stadium and basketball arena.
Tauhid Chappell, a student on campus, said he and other students were getting information through the school alert system, and through the web and radio.
Things felt "very quiet and still," he told CNN.
The Cassell Coliseum at Virginia Tech houses athletic facilities. McComas Hall houses exercise facilities.
Classes for the semester ended Wednesday. Students were preparing Thursday for final exams for the fall semester, though the university announced on its website that Friday's exams had been postponed until further notice.
Several U.S. congressmen from Virginia issued statements in the wake of the shooting Thursday, including Rep. Morgan Griffith.
"I hope you will join me in lifting up the Hokie Nation in prayer," Griffith wrote, using the school's athletic nickname.
Several Virginia Tech administrators -- including the head of campus police, Wendell Flinchum, and emergency management director Michael Mulhare -- were in Washington Thursday at a federal court hearing on the 2007 shooting on the school's campus, according to U.S. Department of Education officials.
Flinchum and the school were criticized after that incident for not notifying students quickly enough that there was a danger on campus. The hearing was an appeal of the Department of Education's fine of $55,000 to Virginia Tech under the Clery Act, a federal law related to campus safety.
In April, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli called the 2007 case against Virginia Tech "Monday-morning quarterbacking at its very worst."

bigross86

08 Dec 11,, 21:45

WTF? CNN claims 2 dead.

What's the problem, that's what I posted...

YellowFever

08 Dec 11,, 22:09

Uh oh, the suspect is a white male.

He will get the book thrown at him if captured alive.

One good thing is there won't be an outcry of racism if he is killed by the police. :rolleyes:

gunnut

08 Dec 11,, 22:31

What's the matter with this school? Some nutjob killed a bunch of people at this school a few years ago. Here's another nutjob killing people at this school.

What kind of "gun-free" zone is this if a psychopath could just waltz in with a gun?

USSWisconsin

08 Dec 11,, 22:41

I wonder if the 2nd shooting was a car jacking?

citanon

08 Dec 11,, 23:03

I wonder if the 2nd shooting was a car jacking?

Looks like the 2nd victim might have been the gunman himself. What a tragic situation, and what is going on with that school? Is it cursed?

BTW I was just at the Westin across the street from Virginia Tech yesterday, and this morning a breakfast my brother and I were just discussing the old shootings. Then on my way to work I hear about the new one on the radio.

Doktor

08 Dec 11,, 23:04

I bet the studies over there will be very cheap in the next few years.